KR101162684B1 - A wafer separation apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is a wafer separator capable of improving the separation efficiency of a plurality of stacked wafers. The wafer separation apparatus according to the present invention, by forming a fluid flow at the top of the container and a plurality of stacked wafers, the pressure difference between the top and bottom of the top wafer among the stacked wafers It includes a conveying unit for separating and conveying sheet. According to this configuration, the wafer can be separated by a pressure drop without physically interfering with the wafer surface, and the surface damage of the separated wafer can be suppressed.

Wafer, separation, airflow, pressure, Bernoulli.

Description

Wafer Separator {A WAFER SEPARATION APPARATUS}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wafer separation apparatus, and more particularly, to a wafer separation apparatus for generating a pressure drop due to a fluid flow on top of a plurality of stacked wafers to separate the stacked wafers into sheets.

A solar cell manufacturing material that generates electric power using sunlight or a wafer widely used as a semiconductor device manufacturing material refers to a single crystal silicon thin plate. This wafer manufacturing process is a cutting process of cutting grown single crystal silicon ingots into wafer form, a lapping process to uniformize and flatten the thickness of the wafer, and etching to remove or mitigate damage caused by mechanical polishing. ) Process and cleaning to clean the completed wafer.

In the cutting process, unnecessary portions are removed and the ingot formed in a cylindrical shape is sliced into a single wafer using a wire saw such as a piano wire or a high tension wire while being immersed in pure water.

Meanwhile, a plurality of wafers separated into sheets in the ingot state are stacked on each other. Accordingly, the stacked plurality of wafers must be separated into sheets and transported for the next process. In order to separate the stacked wafers, the stacked plurality of wafers are separated by a suction force using a vacuum or a pressing force such as a press and a roller.

By the way, in the case of the wafer separation method using the above adsorption force or pressing force, as the physical force is applied to the wafer, surface damage of the wafer is caused. Since the surface damage of such a wafer causes the quality of the solar cell or semiconductor device to be manufactured, a method for improving the wafer is required.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a separation device for a wafer splitter that can separate a plurality of stacked wafers without damage.

Wafer separation apparatus for achieving the above object is, by forming a flow of fluid at the top of the container and a plurality of stacked wafers, the pressure difference between the top and bottom of the top wafer of the stacked wafers. It includes a transfer unit for separating and conveying by sheet.

The wafer separation apparatus may further include a separation unit provided on an inner wall of the container to separate the wafer into sheets by injecting a gas or a liquid between the stacked plurality of wafers, and the separation unit has the most fluid flow among the top ends. It includes a top separation portion located on the late arrival side, the top separation portion is preferably able to adjust the angle of injection. In addition, the injection unit is a nozzle, it may be provided in plurality.

The transfer unit includes an injector for injecting fluid to one side of the top end of the stacked wafer and a fluid supply source for supplying fluid to the injector. Preferably, the injector has an injection hole having at least one slit shape formed along one side of the wafer, and the fluid supplies a fluid including a bubble.

The wafer may be lowered and the top of the stacked wafer may be positioned at a constant height inside the container.

In a modified embodiment of the present invention, it may further include an anti-reflection plate for preventing the reversal of the top wafer by interfering with one side of the top wafer. The inversion preventing plate is preferably located on the front side with respect to the flow direction of the fluid, the inversion prevention plate is preferably formed to extend from one side of the container to protrude horizontally.

According to another modified embodiment of the present invention, it is preferable to further include a flow rate increasing guide for reducing the inner area through which the fluid passes along the flow direction of the fluid so that the speed of the fluid on the top wafer is increased. .

According to the present invention having the above-described configuration, first, as the flow of fluid is generated at the top of the wafer which is cut and stacked in multiple layers, the wafer is separated by the pressure drop, so that the physical pressing force is applied to the wafer. You won't lose. Therefore, the surface damage of a wafer can be suppressed, and wafer quality can be improved.

Secondly, as the wafer is separated by a simple method of ejecting a fluid to the top of the stacked wafers, the economic efficiency and space utilization can also be improved.

Third, by injecting a fluid containing bubbles at the top of the wafer, it is possible to implement a high pressure with a small amount of fluid can be expected to improve the efficiency.

Fourth, by providing a separation portion for discharging the fluid, it is possible to assist the separation force between the upper wafer and the lower wafer to be lifted by the pressure drop.

Fifth, means for preventing the reversal of the wafer during transfer are provided.

Sixth, a means for increasing the flow rate on the top wafer is provided.

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1, the wafer separation apparatus 1 according to the present invention includes a separation unit 10 and a transfer unit 20.

For reference, in the present embodiment, the wafer W separated by the wafer separator 1 is exemplified as a silicon wafer for forming a solar cell, but is not limited thereto, and may be a wafer for forming a semiconductor substrate. Of course it is. In addition, the wafer W may be a substantially rectangular plate, but may be modified to have a circular shape. In addition, the fluid F in which the wafer W is immersed is illustrated as being water (Aqua) containing pure water for preventing the wafer W from being dried, but is not limited thereto.

The plurality of wafers W are stacked in the container C, and the container C may be filled with the fluid F. As shown in FIG. Therefore, it can be said that the wafer W is contained in the fluid F. A plurality of separators 10 may be provided on the inner wall of the container C, wherein the separators 10 may be nozzles. That is, air or fluid may be injected between the wafers W on which the fluid is stacked, so that the wafers W may be separated into sheets.

At this time, the uppermost separating part 11 located at the side where the fluid flow arrives at the latest from the uppermost end may be formed to adjust the angle. The uppermost separator 11 is configured to adjust the angle, adjust the inclination angle of the wafer to be separated and transported, and to be easily separated by the fluid (F). Although the present embodiment has illustrated the separating part 10 in which the layered layers are arranged in the height direction, a pair may be configured as a single layer including the uppermost separating part 11.

Although not shown, the stacked wafer W may be configured to move up and down by installing a driving source thereunder, and the top end of the stacked wafer W may be at a constant height inside the container C due to the driving source. It can be located. This state is shown in FIG. As the lifting unit 13 is lifted by the motor 12, the wafer W can be positioned at a predetermined height.

In another embodiment, the entire container C containing the wafer W may be configured to move up and down. At this time, the container (C) may be provided with a hole to allow the flow of the fluid (F).

The transfer unit 20 separates the stacked plurality of wafers W into sheets by forming a local flow of fluid F at the top of the stacked plurality of wafers W to generate a pressure difference. Specifically, the transfer unit 20 causes the pressure drop between the uppermost one side and the other side of the stacked wafer W by using Bernoulli's principle, thereby transferring the stacked wafer W with a pressure difference. Separate into sheets and discharge to the outside of the container (C). This conveyer 20 includes an injector 21 and a fluid source 23.

That is, in other words, the transfer unit of the present invention performs the separation and transfer according to the pressure difference of both sides of the uppermost wafer using the flow of the fluid (F), and pulls the wafer (W) by the frictional force using the flow of the fluid (F) It's not the way to go.

The injector 21 injects the fluid F to one side of the uppermost ends of the stacked wafers W. As shown in FIG. Here, the injector 21 has at least one ejection opening 22 formed at a predetermined length in a direction perpendicular to the ejection direction at an end entered into one side of the uppermost end of the wafer W. That is, the injection port 22 includes an elongated slit.

The injector 21 may be formed to surround a side of one side of the wafer W positioned at the top end thereof. In this case, although the injection holes 22 are illustrated as a single dog in FIG. 1, a plurality of injection holes 22 may be formed at regular intervals.

The fluid source 23 supplies fluid to the injector 21. Here, the fluid source 23 may supply the same fluid as the fluid F accommodated in the container C to the injector 21. In another variation, the fluid source 23 may supply air together with the fluid F, thereby supplying a fluid including a bubble, that is, an aliphatic body, to the injector 21. have. In this case, as the fluid F including the bubble is injected to the uppermost side of the wafer W, a large pressure difference may be formed even when a small amount of the fluid F is injected.

Although not shown in detail, the fluid source 23 may include a storage tank in which the fluid F is stored, and a pump for pumping the fluid F of the storage tank. Technical configurations of the storage tank (not shown) and the pump (not shown) can be understood from the known technology, and thus detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Due to the configuration of the injector 21 as described above, the pressure on one side of the injector 21 to inject the fluid F is relative to the pressure on the other side based on the topmost wafer of the stacked wafer W. Becomes high. Therefore, the other side of the wafer W is lifted by the pressure drop caused by the fluid flow. In this case, as described above, the separation unit 10 separates the wafer W into sheets, and the angle may be adjusted so that the uppermost separation unit 11 can be easily separated by oil. Then, the wafer W on which the other side is lifted is separated into sheets in the direction in which the injector 21 injects the fluid F along the flow of the fluid W.

For a more detailed description, FIGS. 3 to 4 are presented.

First, as shown in FIG. 1, the fluid F is injected to the top of the plurality of wafers W on which the injectors 21 are stacked. At this time, a local fluid flow is formed at the uppermost end of the wafer W by the fluid injected by the injector 21, so that a pressure drop is generated between the uppermost side of the wafer W and the other side. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, the other side of the wafer W, which is relatively lower in pressure than the one side of the wafer W, is separated from the wafer W stacked below and lifted upward. Thereafter, the lifted wafer W is transferred along the flow of the fluid F by the continuous flow of the fluid W injected from the injector 21.

On the other hand, when the wafer (W) is separated by the pressure drop generated by the flow of the fluid (F) as described above, in order to assist the separation force generated on the other side of the wafer (W), as shown in FIG. , The separation unit 10 for injecting the fluid (F) or air or liquid is provided with a top separation unit 11 that can be easily separated by adjusting the angle. This is illustrated in FIG. 4. In this case, the separation nozzle 30 may also eject the same fluid as the fluid F contained in the container C, may be another fluid, or may have different physical properties (for example, liquid And gas).

Meanwhile, referring to FIG. 5, a modified embodiment of the present invention is shown. As illustrated in FIG. 5, an anti-reflection plate 32 that interferes with one side of the wafer W positioned at the top is included.

The anti-reflection plate 32 interferes with one side of the wafer W positioned at the top of the wafer W in order to prevent the wafer W from being reversed, that is, flipped over by a force to separate the wafer W. To this end, the anti-reflection plate 32 extends from one side of the container C so as to be positioned between the top end side of the wafer W and the injector 21 as shown, and protrudes horizontally. .

Referring to Fig. 6, another modified embodiment according to the present invention is shown. Between the injector 21 and the upper end of the wafer W, a flow rate increasing guide 42 for increasing the flow rate of the fluid F may be provided. The flow rate increase guide 42 is formed in a structure in which the inner area through which the fluid F passes along the direction of the flow rate decreases, thereby increasing the flow rate. That is, in order to maximize the pressure difference using Bernoulli's principle of operation of the present invention, the upper flow velocity of the stacked uppermost wafer W is increased by the flow rate increasing guide 42 so that the upper and lower pressures of the wafer W are increased. Maximize your car. That is, the pressure difference makes it easier to separate the top wafer from the stacked wafers. The flow rate increasing guide may have a plate shape. Alternatively, by having a structure such as a funnel, by compressing and injecting the fluid (F), it is also possible to be modified to be configured to increase the injection pressure.

As described above, although described with reference to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, those skilled in the art will be variously modified and changed without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention described in the claims below I can understand that you can.

1 is a perspective view schematically showing a wafer separation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view configured to lift and lower a wafer in the embodiment of FIG. 1; FIG.

2 is a cross-sectional view showing a separation state of an uppermost wafer;

3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing a state in which the angle of the uppermost separator changes;

Figure 4 is a modified embodiment of the present invention, a cross-sectional view showing an anti-reflection plate, and

5 is a cross-sectional view showing a flow rate increase guide as another modified embodiment of the present invention.

Description of the Related Art [0002]

1: wafer separator 10: separator

11: top separation part 20: transfer part

21: injector 23: fluid supply source

Claims (12)

A container containing a plurality of stacked wafers; A transfer unit which separates and transfers the plurality of stacked wafers by forming a flow of fluid at the top of the plurality of stacked wafers by a pressure difference between upper and lower portions of the uppermost wafer among the stacked wafers; And A flow rate increasing guide which reduces an inner area through which the fluid passes along the direction of travel of the fluid such that the velocity of the fluid increases on the top wafer; Wafer separation apparatus comprising a. The method of claim 1, And a separator provided on an inner wall of the container and separating the wafer into sheets by spraying gas or liquid between the stacked plurality of wafers. 3. The method of claim 2, The separation unit includes a top separation unit located on the side where the fluid flow arrives at the latest among the top end, the top separation unit, characterized in that the adjustable injection angle. 3. The method of claim 2, The separator is a nozzle, characterized in that a plurality of wafer separation apparatus provided. The method of claim 1, The transfer unit, An injector for injecting a fluid to one side of an uppermost end of the stacked wafers; And A fluid source for supplying fluid to the injector; Wafer separation apparatus comprising a. The method of claim 5, And a jetting hole having at least one slit shape formed along one side of the wafer. The method of claim 1, The fluid is a wafer separation device, characterized in that for supplying a fluid containing a bubble (bubble). The method of claim 1, The wafer is capable of lifting up and down, so that the top end of the stacked wafer is located at a constant height inside the container. The method of claim 1, Wafer separation apparatus further comprises an anti-reflection plate for preventing the reversal of the top wafer by interfering with one side of the top wafer. 10. The method of claim 9, The inversion preventing plate is a wafer separation apparatus, characterized in that located on the front side with respect to the flow direction of the fluid. 10. The method of claim 9, The anti-reversion plate is a wafer separation device, characterized in that formed to extend from one side of the container to protrude horizontally. delete

Images